Reset: DPS to Support?!

"Ugh... consecutive attacks?" Shinto clicked his tongue as his eyes followed the trajectory of the magic spells which were all aimed specifically at his side of the group where, after the initial blast, were made up of Reru, Frey, Raina and himself who were standing on the right side.

"It's coming right at us!" Frey shouted out.

"Dodge it, you idiots!" Reru scoffed as he meticulously manoeuvred around the lines of magic. Soon after, from his body, he protruded out a shield made of slime as hurriedly attempted to reflect a portion of the magic over towards the old man.

Upon touching his shield, the magic did not move the way he intended for it. Instead, it exploded upon contact, quickly pushing him back. "Argh..."

"What? You think you can send the magic back to me?" The old man chuckled as he sent another batch of magic lines towards Shinto's side. "How pathetic of you to think so."

"Ugh...!" Raina wailed as she jumped towards the side, barely evading against the after-effects of the explosion caused by the lines of elemental magic.

"These explosions are so... painful!" Frey cried out as her health lowered by 35% in almost an instant after failing to dodge the impact of the explosions.

"...if we're a second too late in dodging his magic..." Shinto's eyes turned to the huge crater caused by the magic. "We might be turned into ash seconds later..."

"Then does this mean... If we're to go up close towards him, we'll have no chances in reacting in time?" Raina questioned.

"If we were to get up close and personal... it'll be hard for us to react in time with our speed and agility," scrutinizing his surroundings, he noted the broken statue that was in shambles which seemed to be enough to cover themselves from the fire.

Soon after, his head turned over to the other side where he saw Ethaniel, Kon and Rustly were struggling to make their way to the front. With every step they took, a magic line would shoot out towards them, consequently preventing them from moving forward.

Currently, even from a far distance, the projectiles of magic coming from the old man was moving at a fast velocity, thus, when it nearly reaches his target, the enemy, or in this case, Shinto's group, would barely have enough room to dodge if they want to be unscratched.

"If it's like that... then what do we do?" Frey muttered out.

"..." Moving his head away from Ethaniel's side of the group, he quickly answered. "For now, head to the statue and use it as a cover," calmly stating his sentence, he soon moved his eyes over to his system notifications.

[ You are in the presence of 'Renryth, The Cursed One'! ]

[ With Sanke's influence, all undead within the area has greatly increased damage! ]

[ This being in front of you is judged as 'Greater Evil'! ]

Although the fight hadn't even started on their side, the old man had constantly been throwing magic after magic over towards each side within the area.

"Haha... What's this?" The old man chuckled. "Is this puny man's magic holding you all back to the point that you have to cower behind a broken old statue? Hmph... I don't even need to order my minions to go after you."

"Ugh... This guy!" Kon angrily shouted out, and in reply to his anger, a sudden burst of magic shot forward over towards him. "...eep!"

"How disappointing. He kept going on and on about how you'll defeat me," The old man grinned evilly as another wave of magic lines shot forward towards each party member. "But, I need not care. You're just lambs that are in the way."

"Ugh..." Reru grunted as he slowly made his way front whilst having his shield absorbed the shots, however, as a result of that, his shield slowly cracked. "Hey, you humans... Can you like... DO SOMETHING?!"

"What do you suggest?" Shinto questioned as he moved his staff over towards the slime, quickly healing him up with [Mark of Umbra] whilst having his back covered by the statue. "The party can't even get near the man... and you're struggling."

"I'm struggling because I'm soaking up most of Renryth's attacks! The interval of attacks is too fast for me to handle properly!" Reru scoffed. "Maybe, instead of discussing and hiding behind the statue, how about just being meat shields and free up my hands?"

"...how thoughtful of you," Shinto glared at the slime.

"Then any bright ideas, human?" Reru stated. "From the looks of it, even if you were to move forward, you can't even reach him in time because of his fast magic."

"...right," he muttered out as he quickly worked his brain. "There has to be some way to go about this..."

"Ugh... Was this old man's attacks always this pain?" Rustly seemed to be frowning as he leapt up in the sky, quickly creating a slime wall that absorbed the attack, however, moments after, the wall broke.

"Hurry it up, human!" Reru frowned. "At this point, we might end up exhausting ourselves before we even begin a proper fight."

"...well, I thought of one," Upon noting the abilities of the two slime who were busily fending most of the attacks for the group, Shinto hurriedly moved over towards the back of Reru. "How long can this shield last?"

"Twenty more hits."

"Alright," Shinto nodded his head as he quickly glanced over to his group members, soon after, he shouted out multiple orders. "Rustly, continuously put up multiple slime walls as you move forward while having Ethaniel and Kon follow closely behind you!"

"What...?" Rustly mumbled out in confusion, however, he shook his head as he quickly got back into creating walls of slime. "You're instead trying to make us meat shields?!"

"—Then, just as the same as what Rustly is doing, Reru move forward while I and Frey follow closely behind."

"Hmm... You say that, but will it work, human?" Reru asked whilst still in amidst fending of the shots.

"It's worth a try," Shinto stated. "From what I've observed... For every interval of magic, he casts, it's only on a single side. So..."

"So, every time he shoots out a magic the other side has free reign to move?" Raina questioned.

"That's the point," Shinto stated. "We have no time to waste. Raina begin casting a spell from where you are now, meanwhile we'll go ahead with this."

"Right."

...

Moments after discussing the plan, the group hurried along on the two sides following Shinto's plan.

"Hah? What's this?" The old man tilted his head in question. "What will that do?" Snapping his finger, he shot out multiple shots spread out evenly towards the two sides.

"Urk... It looks like your observation failed, human!" Rustly clicked his tongue. "He can always do this!"

"Continue forward," he stated. "If he evenly splits the magic, the impact is less compared to the focused spot."

"Tch..." The old man clicked his tongue in impatience, as he hurriedly sent out more spells of the same pattern. However, as the man continued the same action, the distance between the group and him closed. At the sight, he muttered out in an angered tone. "This stupid mage's body and mind..."

"We're close!" Upon closing in on the distance, Frey said in an excited tone.

"Right... we'll begin the fight, now!" Shinto nodded his head as he hurriedly casted spells after spells. From [Sticky Ground] to [Shadow Fields] which all enveloped the old man in an instant. Following that, he soon ended his combo with the still in an incomplete state spell [Rainy Slime].

Upon hearing the call from Shinto, Ethaniel and Frey jumped out from the barriers of Rustly and Reru and began to lunge attacks against the man. From behind, Reru was busily switching out his shield with his sword and joining in on the attack.

"Ugh..." The old man groaned as he saw that the group were all nearly reaching him. "This stupid retaliation against me... Hmph. You think I can't force your spells out?" In the next moment, the old man muttered out a chant as a dark aura enveloped him. "Then... You're just testing my curse at this point!"

"...?!" Soon after, a dark pillar blasted down onto Ethaniel and Frey who reached the old man first. "...argh!" Being knocked to the ground, their health quickly lowered by 20%. Though, the damage lessened compared to the spam of magic earlier.

"Ugh... this is useless," The old man clicked his tongue. "You still dare hold against me?"

"...hey, what are you doing talking to yourself?" Shinto asked as he held onto his staff tightly and in the next moment, a bright light enveloped him—[ Sanctum Brilliance ]. "You completely forgot about me and Reru."

In the next moment, a bright light shot out from the hands of Shinto.

[ Divinity Brillance ]

[ Hallowed Crest (Brilliance) ]

Exhausting all his resources, Shinto placed all strength into his skills. Meanwhile, from the side of him, Reru hurriedly slashed at the man with the sword.

"Argh...!" The old man cried out. "This... is incomplete!"

"Take this!" In the end, Kon hurriedly shot out a shadow orb quickly pushing him back to a wall.

[ The judgement of 'Greater Evil' is shaking! ]